Race Reports Custom 76
Tsukuba The First round of 76 provided a lot of action and controversy. Lotus128 started on pole with mugen 2nd and reigning champ elfernandez 3rd, samstimo started 4th. At the start lotus got away well with elf passing mugen into second at the back kal got suspension damage and retired on lap 3. Lotus had trouble pulling away but managed to keep the gap at a safe distance in the first round of pitstops mugen pitted first then elf lotus and finally sam the order after was lotus, elf, mugen, sam. The first full course yellow happend when army flipped his CRH he rejoined at the back a lap down confusion happend when spazzypingu overtook under yellows forcing him to take a drive through which put him behind mr. On the restart lotus yet again got away well with mugen pressurising elfernandez with lotus pulling away gradually then more controversy when spa impeded elf and mugen costing them time. the 2nd round of pitstops helped sam as his latestop helped him leapfrog mugen and elf but not lotus who was still leading but a few laps later a costly mistake got sam alongisde lotus heading into the final turn with lotus making it difficult for sam the side by side action continued into T1 when sam got the better drive out of and took the lead but lotus wasn't going to give up as he chased down sam and had loads of looks down the inside but sam defended well heading into the last lap Armyguy88 caused trouble for sam almost giving lotus the lead but he had to yield. But Lotus still wouldn't give up but it was simply too late as sam took the first win of 76 lotus was happy with 2nd considering he had injured his hand a day before elf took a frustrating 3rd and mugen a dissapointing 4th with Mr gaining in the last few laps. Mr got good points for CRH and Spa inf and army finished getting one point for thier teams. Jerez The second round took place at Jerez LFR locked out the front row with lotus on pole and home favourite elf in second the Super GP's were on row 2 with sam and monty minardi endured a dismal quali with both drivers at the back. The start was chaotic as red flags happend after two attempts following the rules the third was on a rolling start which was better Lotus led the early laps with elf pitting on lap 3 a lap later his teammate followed as he pitted in and came out ahead of elf and split the Super GP's who have yet to pit a benefit for lotus. Elf was getting frustrated as he lost time due to lag vision and being caught in collisions. Monty soon pitted and he came out ahead of spa who was frustrating skilled and lepe by cutting and causing lots of collisions. At the front lotus was chasing sam down who had yet to pit on lap 7 Mugen retired due to technical issues and sam pitted hoping he can come out in 1st but sadly he couldn't and came out behind both LFR's. Two laps later a yellow flag happend due to collisions at the back a frustrated lotus had to slow down allowing everyone to line up behind him. But the yellow flag had some controversy as collisions between spa skilled and lepe happend forcing it to stay yellow for even longer. On lap 14 green was waved with Lotus and elf making good starts with sam in toe on lap 15 elf hit lag vision of lotus sending him behind sam then an aggresive move by monty sent him to 4th ahead of spa who was later DSQ. Sam pushed hard to catch lotus who had some gearbox issues but lotus held on to take his first win of the season and his second at the circuit but not without controversy as lotus showed as he trailed back to the pits with little celebration the same was to be said of the Super GP of sam who wasn't pleased about the race. Elf was especially frustrated as he could only get 4th but was later promoted to 3rd as monty got a time penalty for forcing elf into a wall. Ashway Park Lotus qualied on pole with Sam making good use of the Super GP's suitability to the track in 2nd elf was 3rd with Mr33 4th. lotus made a good start with sam and elf battling for 2nd on lap 2 both drivers went into the pits in the hope they can leapfrog lotus but a good in lap and quick stop helped lotus maintain the lead. But then a Yellow flag was called as elf flipped on the kerb Mr33 pitted and feeded in at the back. The restart went badly for elf after losing a few places sending him at the back. Meanwhile Lotus built up a 2 second margin on sam as the number of laps were counting down. During that time elf worked his way back into 3rd. With 3 laps to go Lotus clipped an anticut sending the car into a major slide allowing sam to take the lead. Lotus fought back into the chicane but contact with elf sent him to 3rd but he regained 2nd after elf and sam collided. Lotus then got a run on sam but sam defended quite aggressively causing lotus to lose a lot of corner speed elf went past but he passed off the track and let his teamate through into Turn one but Mr saw this as an opportunity and aggressivly went alongside and hit elfernandez taking the 3rd place then Kal divebombed into 4th forcing elf off the track and soon into a flip. At the front sam held off lotus to take an unlikely win Lotus wasn't too pleased with 2nd Mr took 3rd and played down the fact that he took out elf. After the race the stewards penalised Mr Kal and Spa for incidents during the round Kal got a 2 point deduction Mr33 had a 3 point deduction and Spa got a grid penalty for impeding others in quali.